Blundell v. Wallace, 267 U.S. 373 (1925)

U.S. Supreme Court

Blundell v. Wallace, 267 U.S. 373 (1925)

1. Section 23 of the Act of April 26, 1906, disposing of the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes, which provides:

"Every person of lawful age and sound mind may by last will and testament devise and bequeath all of his estate, real and personal, and all interest therein,"

was intended (save the proviso limiting full-bloods) to enable the Indian to dispose of his estate by will on the same footing as any other citizen, notwithstanding restrictions previously imposed against alienation of allotments (e.g., by Choctaw-Chickasaw Supplemental Agreement, July 1, 1902, §§ 12 and 16), leaving the regulatory local law of wills free to operate as in the case of other persons and property. P. 267 U. S. 375.

2. Hence, the will of a married half-blood Choctaw woman devising her homestead and surplus allotments is subject to the provision of the Oklahoma law (Rev.L.1910, § 8341) forbidding any woman while married to "bequeath more than two-thirds of her property away from her husband." Id.

96 Okla. 26 affirmed.

Error to a decree of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma which affirmed a decree in favor of the plaintiff, Wallace, in his suit to quiet title to an interest in certain Choctaw Indian allotments.

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